There's a huge caveat in the US' expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats

The US' expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats in response
to a chemical attack on a former Russian spy in the UK,
announced earlier this week, has a huge loophole.

A State Department official confirmed that the US will
not require Russia to reduce the number of staff in its
Washington embassy.

In other words, the 60 diplomats — many of whom were
undercover intelligence officers — who were kicked out can be
replaced by others.

Targeted expulsions like this week's are not uncommon;
the Obama administration's move to expel 35 diplomats in 2016
was made under similar conditions.

President Donald Trump's administration announced this week that
it would expel 60 Russian diplomats from the US and close a
Russian diplomatic compound in Seattle in response to the
poisoning of a former Russian spy in the UK.

The nerve agent attack against former Russian military
intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia
earlier this month is widely believed to have been ordered by the
Russian government. The White House's expulsion, which was
coordinated with similar expulsions of Russian diplomats by more
than 20 other countries, signaled a resounding rebuke from the
West against Russia's increasingly aggressive posturing.

But there's a catch.

A State Department official confirmed to Business
Insider that the White House's diplomatic expulsion will not
require Russia to reduce its staffing levels in the US, and vice
versa. In other words, the 60 diplomats who were kicked out —
many of whom were undercover intelligence
operatives — can be replaced by others.

The revelation initially gained traction in Russian
state media, which said an anonymous senior White House staffer
told the Russian government that it could send new diplomats to
take the place of those who had been expelled. The Russian state
media outlet Vesti quoted the official as saying, "The
doors are open."

The Russian embassy in Washington currently employs 190 people,
while the US embassy in Moscow has 1100. In response to the
US' expulsion of 60 Russian intelligence operatives, Russia said
it would respond in kind by expelling 60 US diplomats and closing
the US consulate in St. Petersburg.

Targeted expulsions like the one announced this week are not
uncommon. When former President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian
diplomats in response to Russia's interference in the 2016 US
election, the move was made under similar conditions.

Russia, however, responded to Obama's targeted expulsion by
ordering the US embassy in Moscow to cut its staff by 755
diplomats, meaning those who were kicked out could not later be
replaced by newcomers.

A widening rift between Trump and his administration

Donald
Trump.Getty
Images

This week's expulsions will likely have little effect on Russia's
intelligence-gathering or cyber operations.

But they are significant for one key reason, which the Russian
foreign ministry unwittingly revealed in its statement this week.

"The provocative gesture of solidarity with London by these
countries, who have bowed to the British authorities in the
so-called Skripal affair and did not bother to understand the
circumstances of what happened, is a continuation of the
confrontational path to escalation," the foreign ministry
said.

The primary objective of Russia's brand of information warfare
against the West — known as "dezinformatsiya" — is to sow discord
among nations Russian President Vladimir Putin considers hostile
to his goal of reverting to the Soviet era. In many ways,
the coordinated expulsions of Russian diplomats this week struck
at the core of that intent.

The Russian foreign ministry's statement calling the move a
"provocative gesture of solidarity" highlighted that Russia was
not so much bothered by the act itself of diplomatic expulsions,
but rather its signal that Western alliances still held strong.

Members of Trump's administration have sought to capitalize on
the expulsions to push a more hawkish stance against Russia, but
Trump remains unconvinced,
reportedly telling advisers he favors a more cooperative approach
toward Putin.

Indeed, the US has taken a number of aggressive actions against
Russia over the last year, including imposing sanctions, publicly
blaming Russia for the widespread "NotPetya" cyberattack,
shuttering Russian diplomatic compounds, and approving the sale
of lethal arms to Ukraine.

Trump's silence, meanwhile, points to an ever-growing rift
between him and his own national security apparatus when it comes
to addressing Russia.